Tea at Trianon: Purity Balls

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Purity Balls

From ABC News:

Purity Balls — events where fathers vow “to protect their daughters in their choices for purity” – are now a full-fledged national phenomenon occurring in 48 states and in as many as 17 countries. In October, our team was invited to attend the Super Bowl of Purity Balls at the regal Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo. It was the 14^th annual Father-Daughter Purity Ball, and 60 fathers signed a purity covenant, promising, “before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity.”

I first contacted Randy Wilson–the founder of the first of these balls–over the summer. He invited us to spend a few days with his wife Lisa and his seven children. They were an exceptionally warm group, greeting us with homemade cookies and glitter-strewn cards.

The Wilson kids were all home-schooled and the purity lifestyle was evident everywhere, from the blessings Randy conducted with them in their backyard to the purity rings all the kids over the age of 12 proudly wore. Some of the older Wilson children were already married and had all experienced their first kisses at the altar on their wedding days.

In such a tight-knit community of other like-minded young people, they claimed to be at ease with their choices, their views seemingly unchallenged in their daily routines. We tagged along for ballet rehearsal with 17-year-old Kameryn, and hung around the house while the girls all did each others’ hair in preparation for the big ball. I had never met a group of siblings (at least with the cameras around!) who were so nice to each other at seemingly every moment.

Through the Wilsons, we met a second family, the Johnsons from Indiana. Like the Wilsons, this was an exceptionally welcoming, sweet family with seemingly no harsh words shared between them. Unlike the Wilsons who were homeschooled, the Johnson girls went to school with other kids, many of whom did not subscribe to the purity lifestyle. They played on sports teams and planned to attend school dances (with platonic dates, of course). (Read more.)

julygirl said...: Attention, intervention and interaction in a child's life is on-going until they have children of their own. Then it is time for attention, intervention and interaction in one's grandchildren's life...God willing.; March 29, 2014 at 8:02:00 PM EDT